122 FLIGHT International, 17 July 1976
WORLD NEWS
Entebbe postscript
FOUR Hercules and at least one other aircraft took part in the Israeli rescue operation on the night of July
3/4 which ended the week-long hijack
of an Air France A300 to Entebbe,
Uganda. It now seems virtually cer
tain that the route taken on the way
to Uganda was down the Bed Sea on
the FIR boundary between Cairo and
Jeddah, almost exactly along the
national border between Ethiopia and
the Sudan, across the north-western
corner of Kenya and on to Entebbe.
"The flight took 7hr. The aircraft
hit bad weather with strong winds and
had to change course," according to
Israeli Chief of Staff Gen Mordechai
Gur, "but got to the target on the
exact minute." The whole operation
took 53min, according to the general,
which was 2min less than had been
taken at a rehearsal in Israel the
previous night.
Contrary to earlier reports, all of
the troops and vehicles in the four
aircraft which flew direct to Entebbe
appear to have been landed on the
main runway—a parachute drop,
though initially probably less likely
to alert the terrorists and Ugandan
troops defending the airfield, seems
to have been ruled out by a combina
tion of circumstances including uncer
tainty about the weather, the
proximity of Lake Victoria and the
fact that the airfield is largely sur
rounded by difficult marshy country.
It seems that the first aircraft to
land contained the commander (and
Lt Col Nathanyahu, second in com
mand and the one Israeli soldier to be
killed during the operation) and a
small force of men which made
straight for the old terminal building
in which the 104 hostages were being
held. According to Gen Gur, four ter
rorists were killed by this force within
45sec, "faster than we had planned."
Commando units from the other three
aircraft were detailed to deal with
other targets such as the Ugandan
soldiers. Ugandan Air Force MiG-17s
and MiG-21s, the new terminal build
ing and the control tower.
Among the equipment taken to
Entebbe were three or four fuel
pumps which were to be used if the
Hercules were forced to refuel there
LEADLINES
Overbooking : CAA backs down 125
Concorde: New York hearing date
agreed 126
UK: more defence cuts? 135
YC-15: stall tests to complete 135
rather than go on to Nairobi. In the
event, they were not needed and were
left behind. All the vehicles used by
the troops in the second, third and
fourth aircraft were taken back to
Israel.
On the diplomatic acquiescence of
Kenya, Gen Gur emphatically denied
last week that any country had been
consulted before the operation. "I did
not want to give any hint to Kenya
that something was going on because
of security," he said. "We had no
choice, only to impose ourselves on
Kenya."
The final death toll in the operation
was three hostages (one of whom died
at Nairobi, in spite of there being a
total of 30 doctors spread among the
four aircraft at Entebbe and the one
which flew direct to Kenya), one
Israeli soldier, 20 Ugandan soldiers
and seven terrorists. According to
official Israeli sources, three hijackers
are believed to have escaped.
Security at Athens airport is under
stood to have been improved since
the hijacking of the Air France
A300B4 during its 45min transit turn-
round on flight AF139 from Tel Aviv
to Paris on June 27. A Greek Govern
ment spokesman claimed last week
that "we have strengthened security
measures, which were already very
strict, Now we have covered all our
weak points. It is not true that transit
ing travellers were not being checked
on entering the transit lounge, but in
any case we are now checking
everyone." A Flight staff member
passing through Athens airport last
weekend, however, saw no evidence
of increased security activity and,
The RAF's surviving
Lancaster made a
pass aver central
London on July ''
os part of the Royal
Tournament parade.
It is seen passing
Trafalgar Square at
about 500ft
despite being in civilian clothes, was
able to accompany an airline crew
without difficulty.
Negotiations between France and
Uganda for return of the A300 are
bogged down as we go to press. A
French crew is waiting at Entebbe to
fly the airliner back to Paris. The
aircraft is understood to be slightly
damaged, but could be flown back
unpressurised at 12,000ft with one re
fuelling stop. The cockpit voice
recorder could assist in reconstructing
the hijacking.
The original crew has been
honoured by the French President.
Commandant Michel Bacos, the
A300's captain, is awarded the
Legion of Honour and the other
members of the crew have received
the Order of Merit. They confirmed
that after the airliner had landed at
Entebbe a further three terrorists
joined the four already aboard the
aircraft. The crew were offered re
patriation by the hijackers when all
the non-Israeli hostages were freed,
but chose to remain at Entebbe. Each
passenger has been given a grant of
£120 to allow for baggage still on
board the A300.
Nationalisation:
trouble looms
M OUNTING confidence in the ranks of the Conservative opposition is evident as the UK aircraft industry
nationalisation Bill falters in its
Parliamentary procedures. In addition
to waiting for the by-election during
this week to ensure a safe, though